Women’s Tennis: Cats take on top Big Ten foes this weekend

Mike Marut, Reporter

No. 11 Northwestern (11-5, 5-0 Big Ten) takes on its toughest Big Ten competition this weekend against No. 17 Michigan (13-3, 5-0) and Michigan State (15-4, 3-2).

The Wildcats will meet their match on Saturday against the Wolverines. The two squads are tied for first in the Big Ten, both undefeated so far. NU has faced tougher competition in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio State — each ranked in the top 60 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Michigan has only faced one ranked team, having taken on Ohio State in late March. The match may ultimately determine the regular season conference champion.

“We know that Michigan is very good, and it was going to come down to us or them really to win the Big Ten Conference,” senior Veronica Corning said. “That just makes the match even more exciting and makes us really happy that we’re playing them. Hopefully we’ll be able to pull it out.”

Last year when the two teams went head to head, the Wolverines took down the Cats 4-3. At the time, Michigan was ranked No. 8 while NU was No. 14. This time around, the Cats outrank the Wolverines.

As for Michigan State, the Cats have outscored the Spartans 94-4 in head-to-head battles since the 1999-00 season, but coach Claire Pollard is not preparing the team any differently.

The Cats face the Wolverines on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Spartans on Sunday in East Lansing, Mich. Pollard and her team are not treating either match differently, as both are key steps on the Cats’ road to another regular season title.

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